August 17
Job 13-14
Psalm 92:8-15
Proverbs 20:20-21
2 Corinthians 6:1-13
Shut up!
“If only you would shut up and let that be your wisdom! Hear now my argument and listen to my defense. Would you testify unjustly on God’s behalf or speak deceitfully for Him? Be quiet and I will speak. Let whatever comes happen to me. Why do I put myself at risk and take my life in my hands? Even if He kills me, I will hope in Him. I will still defend my ways before Him.” Job 13: 5-7, 13-15 HCSB
A few days ago, we looked at Job’s friends’ interactions with him when they first came to visit him. They did all the right things. They got down on the ground with him and grieved with him. They cried with him, and they didn’t say a word. The last couple of days we have read what they said when they decided to open their mouths. Today we see Job’s response to them. When Hannah was five or six, one Sunday on the way home from church she said, “Gregg said the “S” word in church today.” Gregg is our pastor and a close friend. She seemed very disturbed by the fact that he had used a “bad word” in church. I didn’t know how I missed what she was talking about, so I probed further and asked her what she meant. She did not want to repeat this “bad word,” but I promised her she wouldn’t get in trouble for telling me what it was, and she said that he said, ‘shut up.” That was definitely a “bad word” in our house, and she had heard her sister get in trouble for saying it. I don’t remember the context now that Gregg used it, but it certainly struck a chord with Hannah. While that is a phrase that is used far more often than it should be, it seems very appropriate for Job to say it here to his friends. Proverbs 17:28 tells us, “Even a fool is considered wise when he keeps silent, discerning when he seals his lips.” (HCSB)
We have the advantage of reading in the book of Job about God’s conversations with Satan. His friends did not have this insight. When they looked at all the things that were happening to Job, they were not unreasonable to think that Job was being punished for some unknown sin. But that was not what was going on. I think his response to them is proof of a personal meaningful relationship with God. Job knew his God. He was the real deal. He was undeterred in his faith. His response to them is that he will defend his ways before his God and even if God kills him, he will still hope in Him. This is the reaction of someone who is secure in their faith and in their relationship with God. He trusted God. He was experiencing unfathomable pain, physically and emotionally, and yet He still trusted God. No matter what our well-meaning friends may say to us when we are facing difficulty, we can remain faithful if we have an intimate personal relationship with our Savior. The closer we are to God; the less influence people have on our thoughts and opinions and the more we are influenced by His Word and the Holy Spirit living in us. We are able, like Job, to stand firm and resolute and hope in Him no matter what we face.
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